Promoting Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Tourism Development: Madang, Papua New Guinea A. Ford, A. Carr, N. Mildwaters and G. Summerhayes About NZIPR The New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research (NZIPR) was launched in March 2016. Its primary role is to promote and support excellence in Pacific research. The NZIPR incorporates a wide network of researchers, research institutions and other sources of expertise in the Pacific Islands. Published by Promoting Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Tourism Development: Madang, Papua New Guinea A. Ford1, A. Carr1, N. Mildwaters2 and G. Summerhayes1. ISBN: 978-0-473-48282-4 1 University of Otago PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand 2 Otago Museum 419 Great King St Dunedin New Zealand 1 Executive Summary Tourism has been identified as an important members of local communities involved with economic industry for Small Island Developing tourism projects. The project team was States (SIDS), including Papua New Guinea joined by staff from Divine Word University (PNG). One of the important niche markets and the National Museum and Art Gallery for tourism is cultural heritage, which of Papua New Guinea. Their participation involves “travellers seeing or experiencing was a critical factor in the success of the field built heritage, living culture or contemporary work, as they assisted with translation and arts” (Timothy 2011: 4). While cultural the transcription of interviews. heritage tourism comprises 40% of the total global tourism market, in the Pacific cultural The research identified that cultural heritage heritage tourism remains underdeveloped. tourism is an unfamiliar concept to the communities interviewed that needs to be One of the benefits of cultural heritage rectified by awareness and advocacy. tourism is its ability to involve local com- Communities and stakeholders, however, munities, using their own heritage as tourism both noted that cultural heritage resources assets, therefore potentially providing could provide a tourism opportunity for sustainable economic development. The local communities for sustainable purpose of this study is to investigate the development, particularly as it requires low current opportunities and constraints for levels of investment in capital and local communities in developing cultural infrastructure, and builds upon existing heritage tourism projects, using Madang in assets – their own cultural heritage. Cultural PNG as a case study. heritage tourism was seen as an industry which could be readily and sustainably The methodology for this report involved a incorporated into communities’ livelihoods. desktop review of tourism-related literature for Papua New Guinea and two fieldtrips to At the same time, however, numerous Madang/Port Moresby for site observations challenges and constraints were noted, and to meet and discuss with community including a need for further investment by members, cultural heritage specialists and government at all levels in respect to tourism stakeholders their attitudes and funding, resources and training to assist opinions towards cultural heritage tourism in communities with capacity building, product Madang. The first trip in February 2018 development, marketing and guide training. included a three-day workshop held in In short, there is great potential in Madang Madang involving cultural heritage and (and Papua New Guinea in general) for local tourism stakeholders from both the communities to be involved in cultural provincial and national levels. The second heritage tourism, but there needs to be a trip in June 2018 involved a week of semi- coordinated and holistic strategy for tourism structured interviews in Port Moresby and development at both provincial and national Madang with industry stakeholders and government levels for this to be sustainable. 2 Acknowledgements The project team would like to Visitors and Cultural Bureau, the Madang acknowledge the funding provided by the Provincial Government, Divine Word New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research University, Melanesian Tourist Services, to undertake this study. We would also like Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion to thank all of the stakeholders involved in Authority, the National Research Institute our research, including the local and the National Museum and Art Gallery communities and tourism providers who of Papua New Guinea for their assistance agreed to participate in interviews in with this research. For assistance with Madang. We would also like to figures and mapping, we would like to thank acknowledge and thank the Madang Dylan Gaffney and Les O’Neill. 3 Contents Executive Summary 2 Acknowledgements 3 Introduction 5 Tourism in Papua New Guinea 8 Community Based Tourism 13 Cultural Heritage Tourism 14 Cultural Heritage of Papua New Guinea 17 Madang Cultural Heritage 18 Madang Tourism 20 Cultural Heritage Opportunities in Madang 22 Community and Stakeholder Views on Cultural Heritage Tourism 27 Challenges with the Development of Community Based Cultural Heritage Tourism 30 Recommendations 36 Concluding Remarks 39 References 40 4 Introduction Tourism has been identified domestically foreign currency and potentially foreign and internationally as a key economic and investment; and finally, the potential spread development opportunity for South Pacific of economic opportunities into rural areas nations, with entities such as the UN World and local communities (Cole 2006; Scheyvens Tourism Organisation (UNWTO 2017), 2015; Telfer and Sharpley 2016). Furthermore, World Bank (2017) and the Asian Develop- tourism involving the cultural heritage of ment Bank (Everett et al. 2018) focusing communities can deliver beneficial outcomes upon the need for these smaller nations to such as cultural exchange and the potential develop sustainable tourism that draws upon for continuation of cultural traditions. It is their rich natural and cultural heritage acknowledged that mismanagement, (Scheyvens 1999; Rayel 2012). Tourism is especially during times of tourism growth, often positively portrayed as providing can be detrimental to communities multiple benefits to developing nations, (Scheyvens 1999). The aim of this report is including the stimulation of economic to examine the potential for developing growth; the creation of employment oppor- cultural heritage tourism opportunities for tunities and enterprises; the promotion of sustainable local community development in infrastructure development; the provision of Madang, Papua New Guinea (Figure 1). tax revenue to governments; the import of Figure 1 Map of Papua New Guinea. 5 The methodology for this report involved a desktop review of tourism-related literature for Papua New Guinea and the wider Pacific, as well as two fieldtrips to Madang/Port Moresby for site observations and to meet with and discuss community member and stakeholder attitudes and opinions towards cultural heritage tourism. The first trip in February 2018 included a three-day workshop on cultural heritage tourism held in Madang. This involved stakeholders from the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority (PNGTPA), the National Museum and Art Gallery of Papua New Guinea (NMAG), Divine Word University (Cultural Heritage and Tourism specialists), the National Research Institute (NRI), the Madang Visitors and Cultural Bureau (MVCB) and local tourism providers. The second trip in June 2018 involved a week of semi- structured interviews in both Port Moresby and Madang. These interviews followed up on issues discussed at the original workshop and involved stakeholders from the PNGTPA, NMAG, the MVCB, Madang Provincial Government (Tourism) and local tourism providers. In addition, three local village communities currently running tourism attractions were interviewed regarding their experiences. For these communities, group interviews were held in each village, conducted in a mixture of English and Tok Pisin, and supplemented by site observations. For this fieldwork, the project team was joined by staff from Divine Word University and NMAG. The inclusion of the latter was a critical factor in the success of the field work, as they assisted with recording, translation and transcription of the interviews. This report was completed as part of a larger project, funded by the New Zealand Institute of Pacific Research, which aimed to investigate the possibility of utilising cultural heritage for sustainable tourism development within the Pacific region. Two case studies were selected to investigate this in more detail: Madang, PNG, and Samoa. The objectives of the wider project were as follows: 1. Identify the opportunities and difficulties of using cultural heritage within the Pacific for sustainable development. 2. Increase in-country awareness of sustainable cultural heritage tourism opportunities. 6 3. Identify workable synergies between As noted above, each case study will have cultural and education institutions, different cultural heritage opportunities, government authorities, local com- depending on their unique cultural situation. munities and tourism infrastructure. This report will briefly describe PNG’s An important tenet of the case studies was to broad cultural heritage context, before identify how specific local and cultural focusing specifically on the targeted context factors might impact upon the creation of of Madang. The current tourism situation in cultural heritage tourism development Madang will be reviewed before highlighting opportunities. It is therefore important to cultural heritage opportunities within understand how tourism